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Ur an idiot for buying this: 1995 Audi Ur-S6 project

HAHA GET IT

Okay now that's out of the way, hi guys it me. I've been on Stanceworks for a long time and some of you may have seen my Mazda6 before. Here it is:

Having reached the point of diminishing returns with the Mazda and also recently finished business school and gotten a job, I started to look around at potential project cars. This time around, wanted to do something older, 80s-90sish and hopefully keep it relatively functional. I'm still keeping the Mazda but for a quick financial boost I sold the Works off the car and used some of the money to buy the new one!

This is a 1995 Audi S6, which is referred to as the UrS6 because Ur is a prefix in German meaning 'the original' or something. Don't quote me on that. It has the most evolved version of Audi's 5-cylinder turbocharged engine, a 5 speed manual transmission, and Quattro of course. These are pretty rare cars at least in the states, and this particular example is... uh.... rough, with 262k miles on it. Pretty much a recipe for guaranteed trouble-free ownership and bliss.

Actually it's a pretty funny story how I found the car. It was on craigslist back in my home state of NC for $2200 or something like that, very little detail in the ad but the previous owner said he had replaced TB/WP, tensioner, valve cover gasket, a turbo hose, etc etc. Was incredibly ratty/dirty and beat up, but he said he dailied it. I offered $1000 over text sort of as a way of leaving whether I bought the car up to fate, and he accepted. Then I had to buy a plane ticket to go get the damn thing!

When I arrived in NC, here's what I saw:

Note the sticker residue (I think from racing) on the door and the smorgasbord of dents. The front bumper is supposed to flare out to meet the S6's fenders but it doesn't because someone replaced it with a beat to shit regular A6 bumper. The doors and front fenders have rust holes, but the underbody is pretty much OK.

The car made it 450 miles back from NC to Georgia without any trouble other than what I was told it would do, which was mostly leak coolant when parked and the system was pressurized. Got it cleaned up as best I could.

Anyway, I've started poring over the various mostly-dead forums dedicated to these cars. They're not especially hard to work on and the drivetrains are supposed to be pretty bulletproof, but parts are made from unobtanium and there aren't many Ur-S cars left. Also I have no idea what I'm doing. Recently cleaned the MAF which seemed to improve an intermittent issue where it only boosts 5-7psi which is wastegate pressure, but it still sometimes happens when the car is warm. Maybe N75 or diverter valve next.

As far as plans for the car, I'd like to
- get it mechanically sorted (axles, alignment, fix coolant and boost issues, shifter bushings, fix e brake)
- make it less ugly (doors and fenders to eliminate rust, maybe modify A6 or buy S6 bumper, period correct wheels like Borbet Type A)
- make it faster

Yeah that's pretty much it! Not super mechanically inclined beyond like doing coilovers, brakes, stuff like that so I'm excited to start learning.

Always love seeing these rare cars, cant wait to see what you end up doing to it.

Honestly I'd never seen one in person til I bought it, but I'd definitely thought they were cool. Actually owned a Volvo S60 R in the past, which is the same weird 5-cylinder turbo formula.

Anyway, got some things done over the past week or so. Well, most of it was identifying problems I've yet to fix, but still!

1. Picked up some wheels. OZ Ruote, build date 1992, 17x7.5 et35. Picked them up for $220 with tires, and I really love how they look on the car. Obviously needs more low, but the hideous B5 A4 wheels with 205/55 tires made it look like a base A6 and not an S6. Stoked because they're pretty much exactly the type of wheel I wanted!

2. Cleaned the stupid carbon wrap off the hood and trunk. Turns out the hood seems to be multiple colors of black spray paint, both glossy and matte. Still tried to remove some of the oxidation. Wetsanded with 3000 grit and compounded by hand and the parts that aren't fucking matte are okay now.

3. Went to Caffeine and Octane and met a local Atlanta audi club there. While there, we figured out the car actually is overheating and the viscous fan clutch is stuck open -- meaning the fan spins but not fast enough to do anything. Also, the aux fan is seized. That would definitely explain it boiling coolant out of the reservoir! Someone has clearly tried to do the fan clutch before but mangled it trying to get the thing off. It'll definitely be a learning experience trying to fix this.

4. Sniped a discontinued FK badgeless grille for $40 off the quattroworld classifieds to replace the beat up OEM one.

Bought some rust free doors for $100 that are actually the correct color. Now I just need 2 front fenders and to fix the quarter panel dent and the car should be ready for paint. The car the doors came off of was in a fire, so there was an unbelievable amount of soot on them and they'd been sitting outside for a year.

In case you were wondering, you can fit 2 complete Audi 100/UrS6 doors in the back seat of a Mazda.

Cleaning all the soot off...

Hit them with some compound and they don't look half bad!

Also ordered some parts to see if I can fix this cooling issue. Both temperature sensors (the one that goes to the ECU and the one that goes to the temp gauge) ordered as well as a fan clutch!

Found two 235/45/17 tires to go on the OZs and mounted them. Took the car for a drive, forgot I need hub rings because this car has wheel bolts so it shakes pretty badly, so have to pick some of those up.

Thanks for the kind words everyone! Well, as I'd sort of expected with an old beat up fast Audi, it's like whack a mole with issues. The day after my last post a guy who works at Solo Motorsports here in Georgia said I should stop by after hours and we could take a look at the car.

Here she is in the shop. Got to take a better look at the underside of the car on the lift and it doesn't have terrible structural rust. Slow seeping at rear main seal area and the diff is seeping too.

We came in trying to diagnose the fan issues. It turned out the viscous fan was actually fine. The aux fan, on the other hand, was completely toast. It was nearly seized up and also unplugged, meaning the PO definitely knew what was up. Turns out he unplugged it because it got hot and either melted or burned. Actually, all sorts of wiring in the same area had been either cut or melted. Plugs for the AC compressor and outside temp sensor were just cut. I have no idea what the previous owner(s) of this car were up to.

Looked over to my left and saw a fucking Aventador in the next bay, while we were working on my beater. Hilarious.

SOOOOOOOOOOO after figuring out the fan issue (I didn't have one to put in, so I just picked one up locally. Actually a dude gave it to me) we tried to figure out the coolant leak. As I mentioned before, the car would puke coolant when it was parked/warmed up but wouldn't actually overheat. Sometimes it would boil and lose like a gallon at once if it idled too long. We thought this was because both fans weren't working. Previous owner had put in a brand new coolant reservoir, and the car had a new radiator cap. Checked oil, no water in it.

WELP. We tried to pressure test the cooling system to see if the radiator cap was holding pressure but the pressure tester wasn't working. Couldn't get ONE MEASLY PSI to hold for any amount of time, or vacuum either. Turns out the brand new coolant reservoir also had a crack in it! We pulled a spare off my buddy's car, so that issue was more or less resolved.

Next we hit the IACV with a screwdriver to free it. Boom, idle.

Next we pulled codes to see if we could figure out the boost issue. A MAF code showed up, so we swapped a known good MAF from his car. The code went away and the car made boost much more consistently. Actually, we thought it fixed the problem, but the car still won't boost past 7psi or so from time to time. Now thinking it may be throttle position sensor or N75 valve. We'll see!

Last week I made the drive out to Dallas (Georgia, not Texas) to pick up some parts. The guy gave me an OEM shift boot to replace the dirty ass suede one for free, as well as a free auxiliary fan!

Looks so much better:

I also bought a set of Bosch Green Giant injectors from him for future moar power reasons. Was super cheap and he gave me a bunch of parts so I wanted to give him money for something at least! Everyone in the community has been super nice.

Finally, took the car up to Lake Hartwell in SC to visit my family now that I've moved away. Took the Audi, which was off and on not boosting but otherwise handled the trip like a champ. I'll leave you with this pic of my girlfriend driving the car. She did great!

So right now, here we are:
- Coolant no longer pours out but loses maybe 0.5L every two weeks (please god not head gasket oh man)
- Boost issue better but still happens
- Car runs cooler
- MAF replaced
- Idles now that idle valve is replaced
- Semi figured out all the fucky wiring.

Glad to see your getting some stuff sorted out on the car. Keep it up.

Thanks man! Was just looking at your build thread, I know I've seen you around here before like years ago but your new M3 is sweet. Funny that we were both having temp sensor and coolant issues.

Originally Posted by Darkyoshi154

Yo dude! I love the car! Are you local to Atl? You should come out to the Dürtydübs meet at Redbrick, after C&O! The world needs more rad older Audis

Yes I am! I'm out near Gwinnett place. Is that the gears and beers meet? Would love to come out.

Originally Posted by cblock406

I love threads like these when someone saves what's close to ending up a parts car, keep at it!

Haha it was very very close. People buy running engines out of these cars for $1500 so they're gold mines as parts. All of the OEM parts are pretty much no longer available so people who own them are stuck between being mad they get parted out and needing the parts from part outs. Idk, I don't have the time or energy to part this out and it seems unfair to a car that has made it this far and is still running.

A bit of a surprise -- was just out with the car and tried to get the trunk open again. Accidentally LOCKED the doors from the trunk (????) which sucked because the door locks don't work. Then I figured out the door locks were just really gummed up and they worked with the key. So crisis averted. Then I somehow got the trunk to open!!! It hadn't been opened in probably years.

Things I found:
- Gauge pod packaging circa 2006
- An unopened home thermostat with copyright 2000 on it
- An unopened wheel bearing
- Center caps from what appear to be early 2000s fast and furious type chrome wheels
- All the wiring for the car phone
- A skate deck
- The sides of an OEM S6 bumper in black, which have the flares I need that the A6 bumper doesn't have!!!!!! For people who don't know why this is a big deal, the front bumper alone is worth about what I paid for the car because the sides flare out to meet the metal flares that were unique to the S6 front fenders. This is just the side flares, but they could be molded onto the cheap A6 bumper I have on there now. That's just hilarious.

Yeah, that's the Gears & Beers Meet. It's at Redbrick Brewing after C&O, and then they occasionally have a meet at Dry County Brewing in Kennesaw. You should join DurtyDubs FB to see better details.
I also crept your insta and realized that I have seen your car before... feel like a fool for looking at this thread and somehow missing your sig and profile pic.

Drove the car to Treffen South, a cool VW show at Atlanta Motor Speedway. I was.... overshadowed by something else in attendance.

Here's me:

Here's the other guy. GT3071R, lots of rare parts, spotless, same color S6.

Later that day, went by my buddy's house and there was some alcohol involved and we decided to improve the car. Rustoleum gloss lacquer for front bumper and gloss plastidip type stuff for roof, temporary of course but the roof and bumper were fugly.

In progress

Finished, not perfect but the dull bumper sucked. Now just need to find the grill piece.

Sort of unrelated, I work for NAPA in the distribution center in Atlanta and I was sent to Houston to help out after Hurricane Harvey. Everything was super backed up for obvious reasons and while in the hotel bored out of my mind I bought probably the last set of unused S6 floor mats in existence, lololol. Lipstick on a pig but hey, I did need mats...

Still trying to track down this damn boost issue. Don't really have a lot of pics because I never remember to take them but I replaced the throttle body, throttle position sensor, sprayed brake cleaner on hoses while idling to check for leaks, etc etc etc. Pulled whats known as the Michelin Man hose to the intercooler because it was covered in gunk and they're known to leak. After 30 mins in the sink I wasted a lot of time because it was totally fine. Ordered the right N75 valve and put that on, still not fixed.

Found a set of sorta scarce A4 DTM edition Ronals that I picked up super cheap with tires, put them on and I think I actually like these better. 18x8 vs 17x7.5. One of the OZs is bent I later found out, so that's kind of a bummer. Also found out I'm not allowed to work on my car in my apartment complex, which is a double bummer. Meh. I'll figure something out!

Still trying to track down this damn boost issue. Don't really have a lot of pics because I never remember to take them but I replaced the throttle body, throttle position sensor, sprayed brake cleaner on hoses while idling to check for leaks, etc etc etc. Pulled whats known as the Michelin Man hose to the intercooler because it was covered in gunk and they're known to leak. After 30 mins in the sink I wasted a lot of time because it was totally fine. Ordered the right N75 valve and put that on, still not fixed.

could be diverter valve line from intake (they were shit for many years) or just a bad diverter. its real easy to make a boost leak tester. i made mine from a pvc end cap, drilled a hole, then siliconed a metal valve stem into it. to check pressure i would just hook my boost gauge up to one of the inlet pipe ports

"new" wheels look good, sucks you still haven't found the boost issue.

Thanks man, I'll get there eventually. We are pretty confident it's something relatively simple but it's not easy to find out what that simple thing is!

Originally Posted by storey618

could be diverter valve line from intake (they were shit for many years) or just a bad diverter. its real easy to make a boost leak tester. i made mine from a pvc end cap, drilled a hole, then siliconed a metal valve stem into it. to check pressure i would just hook my boost gauge up to one of the inlet pipe ports

Diverter has actually been replaced but one item on my list is to actually pull all hoses and check. Because key cycling fixes it temporarily and it's intermittent Im leaning toward it not being a physical leak, but still plan on pressure testing it when I can go over to my buddy's shop! Thanks man.

Here's an update in which a lot gets done but very few of the original problems actually get fixed. But still a lot gets done. And low.

Shortly after the last update I went to my friend's shop to see if we could figure out what was going on with the car before I drove it to Gatlinburg for Slammedenuff. We pressure tested for boost leaks to figure out the boost issue and found air leaking from the intercooler Michelin man hose. Tightened the shit out of it, drove the car, pulled great until BAM it hit overboost fuel cut. Felt like someone grabbing you by the neck and pulling you backwards lol. We threw another ECU in it to see if that helped but it didn't.

Here's that pesky overboost code...

Rear emblem sticker replaced and rear bumper (spray) painted to get rid of the white patches and stickers.

Drove the car about 4 hours to Gatlinburg and back, stopping in Asheville on the way back to buy a Ben Swann stage 2 ECU for the car. Handled it like a champ, doing its 5psi thing less often but now doing the stupid overboost fuel cut we created by trying to stop it not boosting enough lolol. The S6 was a pretty funny addition to the Violent Clique house, but I figured I may as well take the fun car to the mountains and just use it as a beer run/mountain taxi vehicle.

Somewhere in the Smokies...

Parking was definitely tight at the cabin.

The following week I was on the way home from work and noticed smoke coming from the engine. I figured I popped a coolant hose or something, but realized it smelled more like hydraulic fluid. Sure enough, there was an explosion of power steering fluid under the hood. One weird thing about these cars is Audi figured there was no point having a vacuum brake booster when the car is in boost the majority of the time. The brakes and steering are both hydraulically assisted using a common power steering fluid reservoir.

The carnage:

Couldn't see where the fluid was coming from so cleaned everything off and started and revved it. Oh that's it. The X-plug in the power steering pump. Fortunately it's a $12 part with O-ring. It happened again a few days ago because the new O-ring broke too so I keep like 5 of them that are the right size in my car now!

Also, this 034Motorsport 1.9bar wastegate spring came in the mail. There was only one left. For those that don't run giant weird external wastegates, this spring sets the limit of mechanical boost before the wastegate opens. It's about 13-14psi where stock was 5-6psi. The pro is that boost builds much quicker and you gain a few psi on the top end, the con is that if something fails you can still boost 14psi lol. I have to admit half the reason I bought this is so it's less annoying to drive while I figure out the boost issue.

Turns out with this tune I bought (intended for use with a 1.9bar wastegate spring) overboosts to like 27-28psi on my car which is insane and bordering on not safe. It's not the tune's fault. The car feels like a fucking rocket ship mostly because of the torque -- I don't use full throttle right now just to be safe but I don't really miss it. If everything is working right (22psi) I estimate somewhere around 300hp and 350 torque which isn't bad out of this little turbo. I have to figure the boost issue out still but it is a lot more fun while I figure it out!

Okay, now for the big part. Yesterday I drove the car back out to Solo Motorsports to swap subframes and lower the car. My buddy has a relatively rust free front and rear subframe sitting around and I offered to buy it plus some weird German lowering springs. The subframes include pretty decent bushings, and the rear one had the struts, springs, diff, control arms, axles, pretty much everything still attached so we decided to just swap all of it except for rear brakes. As a bonus, it included non seized E-brake cables!

Friend who was helping has a really sweet 1992 V8. I love this thing. Such a mafia mobile. Kinda fitting because he's a chain smoking Romanian.

Front subframe out:

Rear subframe out. Look at how trashed every single bushing is. Also fucked axles.

New rust free subframe going in!

Look at all this fucking rust. This was like a 2 x 1 foot pile of rust.

Here's the 50/50 when we realized how low this was going to go. The springs were last used in like 2011 and he forgot how low they were lmao.

We started working at 9am and got done around 9pm last night. There was a long delay where the front subframe mounts and strut mounts were completely broken so we had to drive out to Dunwoody and jack his parts Avant up onto wooden stumps to pull his off. The only other major hitch was Dremeling through a brake line trying to cut a bolt out lol. The good news is I found the unobtanium lower bumper grilles and stole them from his Avant to put on so the front end of the car finally looks kinda normal -- coupled with the front emblem I picked up.

Finally here are some finished daylight pics! Goes without saying that a lot of work is still needed but I absolutely fucking love this car and I love driving it and figuring out what's wrong with it (which is a lot). I won't lie, I did less than half the work (brakes, struts, buying beer, hitting rusted shit with hammers) but learned a whole lot. We probably would've been done a lot faster if he had just done it himself but I wanted to do as much as possible. Needs firmer struts badly, needs axles badly, and needs an alignment so bad it's hilarious. Oh, and the boost issue never got fixed. I feel a lot better about the integrity of the car in general though and it looks pretty cool now IMO! Thanks for reading guys.